


a brief and cursory list of things shirley fennes received on the occasion of her coming of age

by Ink



Category: Tales of Legendia
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Fluff, Gift Fic, self-indulgent nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-31
Updated: 2009-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-05 13:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink/pseuds/Ink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jay is shifty, Norma is tactless, and Senel displays an extraordinary-for-him amount of smoove. Pure fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a brief and cursory list of things shirley fennes received on the occasion of her coming of age

**Author's Note:**

  * For [relares @ lj](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=relares+%40+lj).



1\. "Someone's _legal,_" Norma crows, shoving two bundles into her arms as soon as she walks in the door; at the same time, someone else dumps a handful of confetti on her head. "How does it feel to be grown up, Shirl?"

Shirley shakes the confetti out of her hair--"Not that different, honestly," she says--and looks down. One of the bundles is wrapped in white paper, but has the shape and heft of a small book; the other is...

Well. "Wine, Norma?"

She grins. "What else am I going to give a girl on her sixteenth birthday? I didn't think you'd go for the hard stuff."

(The book turns out to be a pocket edition of _Twenty Ways to Spice Up Your Love Life!_, complete with, ah, illustrations. Thankfully Shirley waits until she gets home to open it.

...it's, um, a very interesting read.)

  
2\. One nice straw hat, wide-brimmed and trimmed with blue ribbon. "I mean, you said you'd like one," Chloe stammers, wringing her own cap between her hands.

Shirley puts it on. "How do I look?"

The corner of Chloe's mouth comes up. "Very nice."

  
3\. "Oh," Shirley breathes, tugging the lid off the box. The dress is a rich blue silk, the color so deep it's almost black. She looks up at Will. "Isn't this a little--"

"Thank Madame Musette," Will says quietly. "She suggested that with all these--" he waves an arm-- "diplomatic meetings coming up, you might need it."

  
4\. Shirley holds the creature in between her palms. "It's very cute," she allows.

"Ain't it just?" Moses is grinning.

"Yeah." She chews her lip. "Um, what is it?"

"You can't tell? It's an Eggbear cub! They're real little to start, you see--"

Over in the corner, Jay has an expression on his face that is impressive in its sheer level of exasperation. "You got her a _wild animal?_"

"So what if I did?" Moses crosses his arms over his chest. "Don't see you gettin' her anything."

"I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything stupid." Jay pauses. "Evidently I need to step up my game."

  
(5. Shirley comes home, however, to discover a long, flat box lying on her bed. She searches for a tag or card but finds none.

Inside the box is a large white shawl, soft and smooth and very clearly expensive--and under that, another smaller box, which she opens to find a pair of gleaming daggers, of a size that would allow them to be easily concealed under one's clothing.

On an accompanying scrap of paper, in neat, even block lettering: _You once expressed a desire to be able to defend yourself, if the need arose. This is the first step._

"How much did those cost?" she asks Jay, the next time she sees him.

He doesn't say anything at all for a long time. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"It must have been my mistake, then," she says. Pauses. "Will you teach me how to use them?"

"...of course.")

  
6\. "So, ah," Shirley says, looking around the room, "does anyone know where Senel is?"

They all exchange nervous looks. "Ah," Chloe says.

"He's probably hiding in shame because he forgot your birthday," Norma says, with a shrug.

"Norma."

"What? You know it's true."

Chloe gives her a look.

"Okay, fine." Norma rolls her eyes. "He's actually probably running around town trying to find the perfect gift. But he still forgot."

"_How is that any less--_" Chloe sputters. "You are so--"

"Um," Shirley says, even though she's not sure anyone is listening anymore. "I'll go look for him, I guess...."

As it turns out, he's not at home, either, or in the Coliseum, or in any of the shops she visits. She even takes a quick look around Fallingwater, to see if he's out monster-hunting without her again. It's strange. She almost starts to wonder if Norma was right...but he wouldn't forget, would he? He's always remembered her birthday, before.

She ends up heading back to Madame Musette's place. She has letters to write, anyway, and a formal report for Maurits. Her job doesn't just stop, not even for a day like today. With a sigh, she hangs up the dress (it is a very nice dress, she thinks again) and puts away the hat and the shawl. Moses' present is a bit of a problem, but eventually she settles on putting the Eggbear in an emptied laundry basket. Maybe she'll just let it go tomorrow--would that hurt Moses' feelings?

She's halfway through a missive to the King of Gadoria when Musette calls her to dinner. Shirley caps her pen and heads downstairs--

\--but it's Senel who's standing in the dining room, rocking nervously back on his heels. He's wearing a neatly pressed suit--it's the first time she's ever seen him in a suit--and tie; his hair is slicked back. "So, uh." He holds out a flower. (It's a little crushed, but she decides not to comment on this.) "Happy birthday?"

(Item six: one home-cooked three-course meal, including the best flan she's eaten in her life, a long walk along the beach--and a kiss.)


End file.
